Immunitat has found a miraculous, almost perfect balance. The spectator knows little of what they will see when they enter the La Villarroel theater. The artistic team is very carefully measuring the information it reveals about the plot, allergic to spoilers and to spoiling the lessons that any play presents. Those who want to prepare themselves before going to see it will know that they will encounter six characters in a room, unnamed, numbered from 1 to 6. All of them will be subjected to the directives of an artificial intelligence that will ask them questions to better manage future crises, after the one they have just gone through, the pandemic, hinted at in the title.
"The story is whether you can understand someone who thinks the opposite of you," says Vicenta Ndongo, who plays character number 4. The problem is that the artificial intelligence, called Lia, wants the test participants to make decisions unanimously, which, as could not be otherwise, tenses the atmosphere. Even more so with questions that transform the stage into lights and countdowns that seem like reality shows, solved by a button where you can choose between green and red. "It's a game that shakes the characters," Ndongo continues. And the spectators, who approach and move away from the characters, identify with one or with all, like life itself.
With an exemplary exercise in containment, the play manages to avoid being set in such a recent past ---if it isn't still present---, escaping clichés and providing new perspectives on issues that have hovered over us amidst the chaos and might seem alien to us. That is the secret achieved by the author and director of the play, Jordi Casanovas, enriched by the contributions of Ndongo, Òscar Muñoz, Mercè Pons, Javier Beltrán, Ann Perelló, and Borja Espinosa. Carla Tovias completes the cast as an all-powerful voice, announcing what the world will be like when Siri determines our lives.
The play delves into the dilemmas ---often unconscious, at the click of a button or a like--- into which technology has plunged us. "It is immersed in our lives. It has many advantages, but it also dehumanizes us," reflects Ndongo, who, precisely, has written a series about it. She conceived it after the first lockdown. "It's an internal look to reflect on how we were experiencing everything," she explains.
The actress, also a writer and producer, is experiencing a good professional moment, despite the halt caused by the pandemic. She returned to Barcelona with the coronavirus and, since the paralysis of confinement and the first waves were overcome, she hasn't stopped. Not only has she created one series, but she has participated in two more, in one with the Javis, and is waiting to see if Immunitat goes on tour. At La Villarroel, it can be seen until Sunday, August 7.
In addition, surprisingly, she has had "the gift of my life" from Matías Bize in Mensajes privados, a cinematic experiment in which different actors tell personal stories, acclaimed at the Malaga festival. It was filmed when all of them were at home without going out, doing everything, acting, recording, and learning how to position the camera ---of the mobile--- and how to light themselves. It is still to be released.